Multi Autonomous Ground-robotic International Challenge

Left to right: 1st Team Michigan,2nd U. Penn,3rd RASR,4th MAGICian WAMbot,5th Cappadocia

The Multi Autonomous Ground-robotic International Challenge (MAGIC) is a 1.6 million dollar prize competition for autonomous mobile robots funded by TARDEC and the DSTO the primary research organizations for Tank and Defense research in the United States and Australia respectively. The goal of the competition is to create multi-vehicle robotic teams that can execute an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission in a dynamic urban environment. The challenge required competitors to map a 500m x 500m challenge area in under 3.5 hours and to identify and neutralize any static or mobile threats. The challenge event was conducted in Adelaide, Australia during November 2010.

Competitors

Initially 12 teams were selected for the competition, during the first downselection trial the top five teams were selected^[1]:

• Cappadocia – Ankara, Turkey
• MAGICian – Perth, Australia
• RASR – Gaithersburg, Md.
• Team Michigan – Ann Arbor, Mich.
• University of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia

The Event

Ultimately the overall goal of fully autonomous operations without human intervention was not achieved, however the Secretary for Defence stated “The competing vehicles demonstrated new advances in robotics technology, which are very promising for their potential deployment in combat zones where they can replace our troops in carrying out life-threatening tasks” ^[2] and considered the competition a success.

The Results

The official results of the competition were:

• 1st - Team Michigan ($750,000 prize)
• 2nd - University of Pennsylvania ($250,000 prize)
• 3rd - RASR ($100,000 prize)
• 4th - MAGICian & Cappadocia

The University of Pennsylvania team won the Old Ram Shed Challenge due to their high rate of threat-identification.

Technology

Key technology used by all teams was computer vision, sensor fusion, human-robot_interaction, and simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM).

• The University of Pennsylvania team consisted of only four members, all code was written using Matlab. The robots were equipped with omnidirecitonal vision.

• Team Michigan, a collaboration between the University of Michigan's APRIL Lab and Soar Technology, Inc. had the largest fleet of 14 robots, developed their own Inertial Measurement Unit, and created their skid_steer robot chassis out of baltic birch plywood. Additionally, they had minimal reliance on GPS and used bandwidth limited 900 Mhz radios for all telemetry, imaging, and status communications between all robots and the ground station. The code was written primarily in Java and each robot was equipped with and actuated 2D LIDAR, along with a unique 2D barcodes for inter-robot recognition.

• MAGICian used the WAMbot robots developed by The University of Western Australia, Edith Cowan University and Thales Australia. Code was written in C++ and Java. The robots were equipped with SICK laser scanners.

• RASR used the Foster-Miller TALON vehicle.

References

1. ^ John Wray (2010-07-26). "Finalists Named in Inaugural Worldwide Robotics Competition". PRweb. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/07/prweb4309204.htm. 
2. ^ Australia Defence Media Centre (2010-11-12). "Mission accomplished, robots await verdict". Shephard. http://www.shephard.co.uk/news/uvonline/mission-accomplished-robots-await-verdict/7686/. 

External Links

• Australian science TV covers the MAGIC 2010 finals

Official site

• The home page of MAGIC 2010

Team Sites

• The MAGICian WAMbot robot home page
• Team Michigan home page
• UPenn team (GRASP) news
• Team Cappadocia home page
• Chiba robotics lab